Tire building apparatus



Aug. 7 1945. H. D. STEVENS 2,381,401

- TIRE BUILDING APPARATUS (PLY TURN-DOWN) Filed 001:; '7, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 68 5 56 4 INVENTOR v A HOQACZE DSTEVENS A'nohuswrs Aug. 7, 1945. H. D. STEVENS TIRE BUILDING APPARATUS (PLY TURN- DOWN) Filed Oct. '7, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HORACE D. STEVEN ATTORNEYS insFig'l';

Patented Aug 7 i 2,381,4(ll I ,TIBE BUILDING ArPARArUs A (PLYTURNDOWN) Q H Horace-D. Stevens, Akron, Ohio, assignor torThe ,zFirest one' Tire & Rubber Company, Akron,

. a corporation of Ohio Application October 7 1944, Serial No. 557,631"

' @io aim. (ol. 1'5'4 -j-10) I preferred construction. -The-drum I is a part This invention relates to apparatus for buildingthe rubberized-fabric carcasses or bodies of pneumatic tire casings, and more especially it relates to devices forturnin'g fabric plies down around the "shoulders'or ends of a tire building form or drum during'the' building of-a" tire casm thereon; I "1 2 I The invention is of especial utilityin the'manufacture of prieuniatidtire casings upon rotatable tire building forms ordrums suchias have relatively narrowflange's orend faces on each end thereof, 'Heretofore conside'rable difficulty has been encountered'in {folding or'turning the under-bead "plies-of tire' carcass fabric" over and 'onto the said end facesv of the drum, the plies being SO'Stifii tha/t no more than two plies could be'so folded at onetime, "Accordingly it is one of the chief -objects'iof thein'vention to provide apparatus capable" of concurrently folding from four to six plies of'fabricintothe end-flanges of I the tire building drain; I

Other objects' or the" invention are to provide improved apparatus for progressively folding fabric plies'arourid"the-endsof a tire-building drum duringlthe fabricatingof a tire casing on said drum; toprovide'app'aratu's of the character'mentione'd that will oper'ate' again'st the tirey building fabricwith awiping action; to provide fabric stitching mechanism that initially engages the work with light pressure and subsequently exerts strong pressure thereon; and to provide a w fabric-stitching tool that will change its angular'positiOiI With relation to the Workallfiomatlr cally as 1 the stitching; operation progresses.

Other objects will be manifestas the description proceedsr Of the accompanying drawingsf I Fig. 1 is a front elevatio'n 'of apparatus enibodying the inventio'n'yin" inoperative position which it is adapted to operate; v I 'Fig: 2 is a section'on line,22 of Fig. 1';

3 is a'plan viewof the apparatus shown and .a fr'agnientary portion'ofj the work upon "Fig. f4is'a side elevation thereof and?" p "Fig. 5 is a fragmentary frontelevationof the apparatus, and a fragmentary section of; the

-l teferring to'the drawings, there is shown at H] a" fragmentary'part of a rotatable collapsible tire of a tire building machine of which only a por tion of its housing, indicated in broken lines at I2, is shown herein, other portions of the ma chine and various"mechanisms for operating upon the work, other than the'present invention, being omitted for-clarity of illustration. Mounted upon-the; front wall of the housing l2,"exteri0rly thereof, is aslide bracket I4' having its forwardlypresented portion 1 l5 disposed obliquely with'relationtovertical position, and fixedly secured to the front face of said oblique portion [5 is a supporting plate I6 that has its forwardly presented faceformed with a dovetaiIslideWay'fH that'extends "from top to bottom'thereof andin' which isi'positioned a slid'eil'8. Spanning the"slidefl8 'inspaced relation thereto is a bridge'plate l 9 that'is supported by the supporting plate 16,; there being respective spacer blocks 20 between plates l6, "|9 at each of the upper corners or the latter, and an elongate spacer block 2! between 'said plates l6, l9co'extensive with the lower margin of thelatter. 1 f

The slideIB is arranged 'to be reciprocated longitudinally in its slide'way 11, whereby it -moves toward or from the'drum in. To this end said slide is centrally formedwith a longitudinally eitending slot 23 that is somewhat nearer to the upper end of th e slide than to the lower end thereof,- Positioned between the bridge'plate face of the slide |8, below the bridge plate I9, is

a longitudinallv "disposed rack 21 that is meshed with the gear 24, the arrangement being such that oscillation of ,said gear will effect reciprocationof saidslide. The "thickness of the rack 21 is less than half th e length of thegear 24 with the result that the rack engages only the inner end portion of 'the'ilatter.

, work; :the apparatus being shown substantially in the" final phase of operation 'u'p'on the work'.

' For oscillating thelg'ear. 24, the outer end portion thereof is in mesh witha rack 30 that is horizontally disposed, and in a plane that is offset from the plane of rack 21 so that it may move transversely of the latter. The rack 30 is connected-to'the outer end of the piston rod of a doubleacting fluid pressure operated cylinder 3| thatis 'rnounted upon a cylinder base plate 32,

which base istes secured to'andsupported by bridge plate.

an ear 33 that is integral with and projects laterally from the supporting plate IS. The cylinder 3| has the usual inlet and outlet pipes (not charging of the cylinder 3| will rotate the gear 24 in the direction that elevates the slide 18] and discharge of the cylinder reverses the operation and lowers the said slide.

In the elevating of the slide in the mannerdescribed, it is desirable that the initial movement of the slide be relatively rapid to conserve time, but thereafter its movement should be relatively slow to enable stitching tools carried by the slide to operate efficiently upon the work,;as presently will be explained; To this end means is provided for yieldingly opposing the outward movement of the rack 30 as it nears the end of its stroke. means comprises'a fluid pressure operated cylinder 31 that is disposed on a horizontal axis that is in alignment with the axis of cylinder 3|. The cylinder 31 is mounted upon a cylinder base plate 38 that is attached to and supported by an ear 39 that is integral with and projects laterally from the supporting plate I6, onthe opposite side of the latter from the ear 33. The cylinder 31, if desired, may be single acting as shown, and provided at its rear end with a single inlet-and-outlet pipe 40.. Projecting from the forward end of the cylinder 31 is its piston rod 4|, and threaded into the'outer end of said piston rod is an adjusting screw42 provided with a check nut. 43. The arrangement is such that the screw v42 may be adjusted axially of the piston rod 4| so that the outer end of the screw is a determinate distance from the confronting end of the rack 3|1, so that the latter engages theend of said screw after being projected a determinate distance outwardly during the raising of the slide. Hi. The cylinder Said The arrangement is such that each block 49 thereon and secured to the latter by respective cap screws By means of the screws 5| the bars 5|] and blocks 49 may be selectively positioned longitudinally of the slots 48.

The support bars 50 extend forwardly of the front margin of the stitcher plate 41 and each has its forward 'end portion formed with a split forked portions of the latter and the upper faces 31 is of smaller diameter than the cylinder 3|,

and normally is in charged condition with its piston rod in projected position as shown in Fig.

1. Thus when cylinder 3| is charged and after rackengages adjusting screw 42, piston rod 4| is forced back into cylinder 31 in opposition to the pressure of the fluid therein, which fluid is forced back through the pipe 4|]. A choke-valve 44 may be mounted in pipe to control the rate r of flow of fluid in pipe 40, thus controlling the slow speed at which the rack 30 moves during the concluding phase of its projected .movementr Formed on the slide |8 at the upper end thereof is a forwardly extending bracket 46 that carries an elongate stitcher plate 41, which plate extends laterally from the bracket 46 and is parallel to the axis of tire building drum Ill. The plane of the stitcher plate 41 is perpendicular to, the plane of the slide I8, and also is-perpendicular to a radius of the drum ||l that intersects its longitudinal centerline. Thus reciprocatory movement of the slide |8 induced by the cylinder 3| moves the stitcher plate 41 radially of the drum at its centerline. Adjacent the respective ends of the stitcher plate 41 are formed elongate slots 48, 48 disposed along the centerline of the plate, and adjusta-bly. mounted in each slot 48 .is a shouldered mounting block 49. Support bars 50 are mounted on the bottom face of the plate 41, below of the support bars 50.

- Mounted atop of each block 49 isa bracket 60, which bracket is adjustable relatively of the block in the direction parallel to the centerline of the stitcher plate 41. Pivotally mounted on each bracket-6 0,intermediate the ends thereof, is an upwardly extending lever arm 6|. Each bracket 60 has an upstanding ear 62.at its outer end, which ear is centrally apertured so as slidingly to receive a tension rod 63, the inner end of each tension rod being pivotally connected at 64 to a lever arm 6 l ,the outer end of each tension rod being threaded and having. an adjustable nut 65 mounted thereon. Compression springs 66, 6B are mounted on the tension rod 63- between the nut 65 and ear 62, and between the ear 62 and lever'arm 6| respectively. The arrangementis such that by adjusting of the nut 65 the springs 66 are caused to maintain the lever arm Bl yieldingly' in any desired angular. position with relation to the bracket 60. The distance between the two arms 6|. is somewhat greater" than the length of the drum l0, and normally the arms are inclined somewhat toward each other, as shown.

The free end of each lever arm 6| carries a stitcher shaft or spindle 68 that projects laterally fromthe confronting sides of the arms. Journaled on each spindle68'immediately adjacent the lever arm B8 is a relatively large stitcher roller 69, Journaled upon each spindle 68 adj acent the free or outer end thereof, in spaced relation to the roller 69, is a wheel or roller 10 that is somewhat smaller than the roller 69; The roller 10 is retained on the spindle 68 by laterally disposed collars 1 I, 1|, and said collars and roller are adjustable longitudinally of the spindle to alter the distance between said roller and the stitcher roller 69 when desired.

By means of theslots '48 in stitcher plate 41, the two stitcher groups, each comprising the stitcher roller 56 and the rollers 69, 1|], may be adjusted toward or from the central plane of the apparatus to adapt the latter to cooperation with building drums ll) of different lengths. Furthermore, rollers 10 of different diameter may be supplied when drums lflof different diameter are used, for example, arollerlll of smaller diameter would be employed if a drum of the diameter indicated by broken lines in Fig. 1 was used.

In the operation of the apparatus, the drum I 9 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4, and. the under-bead fabric plies 15 of a tire casing are applied thereto in the usual manner, the marginal'portions of the plies extending well beyond the respective ends of the drum, as shown. Although for simplicity of illustration unit's.

tionswith relation to the work as they operate these plies are shown as a single ply in Figs. 1 and 5 of the drawings, it willbe understood that they may be as many as five or six in number. After the plies 15 have been smoothly applied to the drum and as the latter continues to rotate, the

rear end of cylinder'3l .is charged and projects its piston rod to move rack 30 outwardly, to the left as viewed in Figs. 1 and3, thereby moving slide l8 and the stitcher elements carried thereby upwardly from the inoperative positions shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 4, toward the operative positions shown in Fig. 5 and in broken line in Fig. 4. Initial rising movement of the slide l8 is rapid, but thereafter is relatively slowas the movement of the rack 30 is retarded by the pressure the cylinder 31, after said rack has engaged adjusting screw 42 of piston rod 4|. The

' .rising movement of the slide should slow down at about the same time the first of the stitcher unitsengagethe work. The construction and arrange ment of the apparatus is such that the first stitcher units to engage the work are the stitcher rollers 56. They engage the fabric plies 15 at opposite ends of the periphery of the drum and press said plies firmly against said drum. Said rollers extend slightly beyond the ends of the drum and serve to stabilize the fabric plies as the latter are engaged subsequently by other stitcher Therollers 5-6 do not'change their POSi-v posed only by the light springs 66, it will be apparent that-the rollers 69 exert only light pressure upon the work at this time; IAS the rollers 69 continue to rise, the rollers 10 come into contact with the work, laterally inwardly from the ends of the drum, with the result that, through the agency of the spindles 68; force is applied to the free ends of lever arms 6! to effect pivotal movement thereof that moves the stitcher rollers 69 carried therebytoward the drum l0. Such movement of the lever arms changes the angular positions of the rollers 69 with relation to the drum,

so that the flat lateral faces of the latter wipe the overhanging skirt portions of the fabric plies against the bead-receiving end faces I I of the. .drum with substantial pressure.

' reachtheir maximum elevation when the slide I8 reaches the upper limit of its movement. I

Thereafter the cylinder 3| is reversed to, lower turn-down device, which is not repeated until the tire casing on the drum is-completed and removed, and the construction of another begun.

The invention is simple in itsconstruction and operation, and operates in a facile and efiicient manner to perform a tire-buildin operation that heretofore has" been somewhat dimcult of accomplishment.

Modification may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope 'thereof as defined by the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In tire building apparatus of the character described, the combination of fabric-stitching tools for operating. upon the fabric tire plies on a rotatable tire building drum a slide reciprocable radially of said drum and supporting said tools, rack and gear means for reciprocating said slide,

nected to said rack for actuating the same-and a second fluid pressure cylinder or smaller capacity than the first mentioned cylinder and mounted in axial alignment therewith, said second cylinder having its piston rod normally in slide-raising movement of the latter.

HORACE D. STEVENS.

The roller 69 

